I don't tell people what to buy or ask them to donate too much...though I'll admit I tell people where to go a lot.

Today I'm gonna tell you about a few things that I value enough to donate some cash.

The first is Solar Roadways, and indiegogo campaign to raise funds for production of solar panels that you can walk, drive, even ride a tractor on! And....they reduce greenhouse gases by 25%! But the most impressive part, to me, is that a mom-n-pop couple is behind this technology and not some huge corporation. Think that's because huge corporations can't come up with this? No. It's because money.

Because money.

And you know what we have, together? That's right.

The next is a gofundme for Refuge, one of Portland's best - and only - mid-sized event space. It is host to private, corporate events....ocassionally. Most of the time this place is overrun with performers, artists, DJ's, producers, and a whole helluvalot of happy dancing people. If it weren't for Refuge I wouldn't know the music that I do, I wouldn't know the people, I wouldn't have a performance schedule like I do, and damn if my CV shrink to the size of a boring, unworldly pea. Refuge hosts events for the people, not for the money....

...and now the fire marshall and OLCC are mandating major renovations in order for the place to stay in business. We've seen multiple shows in the last few months have to either cancel, postpone, chop down their capacity in a major (and monetarily debilitating) way, and - bless their hearts - Refuge has persisted, even to the point of offering shows for free rather than cancel, in order to bend to the will of The Codes. Please help keep this place a thriving part of the community!

And of course, something I've been gung-ho about for a while and am an enthusiastic supporter of: VASALGEL, a multi-year, reversable male contraceptive.

I first heard about this contraceptive a few months, maybe a year ago, in terms of an Indian version (thus non-FDA approved), currently in advanced clinical trials, called RISUG. It's a polymer-based contraceptive, meaning it is injected into the vas deferens where it just kinda hangs out, chillin' all cool and calm and blockin' stuff so it doesn't, you know, end up being babies.

The Parsemus Foundation is now doing their own trials on their version called Vasalgel, and it is super exciting to think that by late 2015, women may not have to shoot themselves up with hormones or shove pieces of metal into their body cavities to prevent pregnancies.

I highly recommend signing up for the newsletter, because you learn really fascinating stuff about how the trials are going, and how they are done! It's fun for the sex-lovin', no-baby-wantin' scientist in all of us! Donate today!